Welsh Government urged to launch campaign to bring teachers back to Wales

The Welsh Government has been urged to launch campaign to bring teachers back to Wales

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The Welsh Government has been urged to launch a “Come back to Wales” campaign aimed at teachers working in other countries as part of a drive to increase the number of Welsh speakers.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society, wants to see £100m invested in a series of initiatives so the Welsh Government succeeds in meeting its target to create a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

The proposal is included in a detailed submission made by Cymdeithas in response to a Welsh Government consultation exercise. The group has also sent it to the National Assembly’s Finance Committee.

'Significant financial support'

Cymdeithas’ submission calls for significant financial support to rapidly increase the number of teachers able to teach through the medium of Welsh, and the capacity of the system to educate in the language.

Other proposals from the group aimed at increasing the use of Welsh include establishing and expanding centres to immerse newcomers who have not previously been exposed to Welsh in the language in every county; a scheme to encourage Welsh speakers to join the education workforce; and extra resources aimed at improving the language skills of those whowork in education.

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Cymdeithas is also calling for a number of measures to tackle what it says is serious under-investment in Welsh in major spending areas – for example the need for a substantial increase in Welsh-medium apprenticeship places.

In a recent document which sets a target to create a million Welsh speakers, the Welsh Government stated: “While our vision is a long term one, and the number of speakers is something that is measured on a generational basis, we must act to put the foundations in place now. And these actions must reflect our ambition.”

'Educational and economic benefits'

Jamie Bevan, chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, said: “If the Government is serious about its ambition to create a million Welsh speakers, there must be substantial extra investment.

“Otherwise, they’ll be rightly accused of warm words but no action.

“We recommend that there needs to be an investment of over £100m to ensure that the Government targets are met, which will also bring educational and economic benefits.

Jamie Bevan

“Without a doubt, and as the Government acknowledges, significant investment must be made as soon as possible in order to create an education workforce that can deliver on the million speakers pledge. This is what Ministers say themselves. Now is the time to invest; this is the opportunity.”

Mt Bevan claimed that at present Wales seriously under-invests in the language – meaning we don’t benefit fully from the educational, cultural and economic benefits of what he said was our unique national language.

'Have conversations and share ideas'

He said: “In the Basque Country, the Government in the autonomous region [in Spain] there spends around 1% of their devolved budget on projects to promote their indigenous language; here the figure is around 0.16%.

“Over there, one can see the fruits of that investment, and it’s possible to compare that with other areas in the Basque Country [in France] which are not run by the devolved government.”

Cymdeithas also argues the re should be Welsh-medium business parks, a new multi-platform Welsh language broadcaster, a new body to promote the Welsh language, and double the investment in the “Cymraeg i Blant” (Welsh for Kids) scheme.

In his introduction to the draft strategy on getting a million Welsh speakers, Alun Davies, the Minister responsible for the language, said: “This is part of a plan for us as a nation and as a society. It is for all of us. Over the next few months I want to meet as many people as possible across the country to discuss, have conversations and share ideas.”